The PuritansThe Puritans

John Cotton, 1584-1652

Cotton was an English-born American cleric who was vicar of Saint Botolph's Church in England until he was summoned to court for his Puritanism. He fled to Boston, Massachusetts, where he became a civil and religious leader.

John Cotton, 1584-1652• Born in England

• Son of a prominent lawyer

• Educated at Derby Grammar School, Trinity College and Cambridge University

• Served as head lecturer at Cambridge University

• Became a minister in the English town of Boston, Lincolnshire, where he became increasingly critical of the Church of England

• Preached a Puritanism, advocating independent congregational governance

• Drew the hostile attention of ecclesiastical authorities

• Chose to immigrate to Massachusetts Bay Colony after William Laud became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1634, and there was a crack down on Puritanism

• Ministered to the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at First Church

• Became regarded as the father of congregationalism in America

• Supported the enforcement of religious principles by civil officials

• Initially came to Anne Hutchinson’s defense, but later in the trail turned strongly against her.

• He disagreed with Roger Williams’ ideas of separating church and state, and played a role in his banishment

• Died as one of the widely honored men in Massachusetts

John Cotton, The Divine Right to Occupy the Land (1630)

1. “The placing of a people in this or that country is from the appointment of the Lord.” In other words, God assigns land to a certain people.

 

2. God makes room for people in three ways:

• He casts out enemies of a people before them by lawful war. (Heathens)

• He gives a foreign people favor or rights to a land through purchase

• He makes available places in a country that are vacant, even if the land it not totally vacant

 

3. “…[N]o nation is to drive out another without special commission from Heaven, such as the Israelites had, unless the natives do unjustly wrong them, and will not recompense the wrongs done in a peaceful manner.”

 

4. “We (the Puritans) must discern how God appoints us this place.”

 

 5. How do a people know if they should emigrate?

·       Sake of knowledge

·       Gain sake

·       Establish a colony

·       Talents are better employed elsewhere

·       To escape bad authorities and avoid evils

·       When some grievous sins overspread a country

·       When escaping over-burdensome debts and miseries

·       When persecuted

  Questions:

Was North America vacant?

Does God really appoint a people land?

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